Gannon - Hypocrisy or Nothingate
A report for the on line publication Talon was discovered to be working under an assumed name and to have previously owned an escort service for gays. He asked softball questions at two press conferences. A number of left wing bloggers have cited the failure of right wing bloggers to denouce this fellow as hypocrisy. An example of such a left wing blog is: http://www.unknownnews.net/050212d-11bn.html
A blog that is further right than unknownnews.net is: http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/02/james_guckert_t.html
which has a lot on Gannon.
I can't quite understand what the hypocrisy is here.
Is it that right wing blogs are supposed to hate gays but don't denounce Gannon. That seems obviously a false inference. Many right wing blogs are libertarian and support gay civil unions and even gay marriage. Very few of the right wing bloggers are for disenfranchisement of gays (I can't think of a single one).
Or it could be that right wing blogs should be against reporters asking soft ball questions at press conferences (these are conferences with the press secretary, not with the President btw). I can't understand how this could be very important. No one even pays much attention to any press conference that doesn't have the President or S of State, Defense or Treasury.
Or it could be that right wing blogs should be against anyone without 'pure' reporter creditials getting a press pass. I don't get this either. The press pass was to several more-or-less meaningless press secretary events.
So basically, I can't figure out the hypocrisy.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Hypocrisy in the 1958 movie "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
When I came home from work, Ann had this movie on. In one of the scenes, the plantation magnate, "Big Daddy", played by Burl Ives (Elizabeth Taylor plays his daughter in law Paul Newman plays his son), says that he hates the hypocrisy he was forced to live with every day. He later expanded on that. He hated pretending to love a wife he hated. He hated pretending to listen to church sermons that he found boring. He hated pretending to be interested in charitable causes. But obviously he did it because it was necessary and had he not done so, his image would have been tarnished and thus his power would have been tarnished. Essentially, this is what I have previously defined as a type 1 hypocrisy - with maybe a tiny bit of type 2 mixed in.
Ironically, this movie removed the references to homosexuality that were in the screen play as well as the obscenity in the screen play -- also because it was necessary -- and the playwright, Tennessee Williams, himself an obscenity spouting homosexual, hated that. Also, ironically, the acknowledged brilliant role of Burl Ives did not win an Oscar that year. Ives received an Oscar a few years later for a much less important and distinguished role.
When I came home from work, Ann had this movie on. In one of the scenes, the plantation magnate, "Big Daddy", played by Burl Ives (Elizabeth Taylor plays his daughter in law Paul Newman plays his son), says that he hates the hypocrisy he was forced to live with every day. He later expanded on that. He hated pretending to love a wife he hated. He hated pretending to listen to church sermons that he found boring. He hated pretending to be interested in charitable causes. But obviously he did it because it was necessary and had he not done so, his image would have been tarnished and thus his power would have been tarnished. Essentially, this is what I have previously defined as a type 1 hypocrisy - with maybe a tiny bit of type 2 mixed in.
Ironically, this movie removed the references to homosexuality that were in the screen play as well as the obscenity in the screen play -- also because it was necessary -- and the playwright, Tennessee Williams, himself an obscenity spouting homosexual, hated that. Also, ironically, the acknowledged brilliant role of Burl Ives did not win an Oscar that year. Ives received an Oscar a few years later for a much less important and distinguished role.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
A Defeat for Hypocrisy - Sort of
Today, former Governor Howard Dean was elected as chair of the democratic national committee. A number of democrats are unhappy because Governor Dean is linked with the maximalist position on abortion and close to the maximalist position on gay rights and close to the minimalist position on defense, etc. These are known to be the positions of the activists in the democratic party so, it seems to me that the people against Dean wanted to disguise the nature of their party while the people for Dean wanted to make the nature of the party explicit in its chair. Since the latter won, it is, in some sense, a defeat for hypocrisy.
Yet, Governor Dean is not quite ready to go totally against hypocrisy. He has said that while democrats should stick to their positions they should phrase their positions differently, e.g. instead of saying 'we're pro choice' (or pro abortion rights), they should say 'we favor woman's health options', instead of saying 'we're for gay marriage', they should say, 'we are for expanding human rights'. So, even while hypocrisy has lost a battle, it still hasn't lost the war.
Today, former Governor Howard Dean was elected as chair of the democratic national committee. A number of democrats are unhappy because Governor Dean is linked with the maximalist position on abortion and close to the maximalist position on gay rights and close to the minimalist position on defense, etc. These are known to be the positions of the activists in the democratic party so, it seems to me that the people against Dean wanted to disguise the nature of their party while the people for Dean wanted to make the nature of the party explicit in its chair. Since the latter won, it is, in some sense, a defeat for hypocrisy.
Yet, Governor Dean is not quite ready to go totally against hypocrisy. He has said that while democrats should stick to their positions they should phrase their positions differently, e.g. instead of saying 'we're pro choice' (or pro abortion rights), they should say 'we favor woman's health options', instead of saying 'we're for gay marriage', they should say, 'we are for expanding human rights'. So, even while hypocrisy has lost a battle, it still hasn't lost the war.
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